


Jaune Belmont-Vampire Hunter

by AllDemStories



Category: RWBY, 悪魔城ドラキュラ | Castlevania Series
Genre: Gen, Jaune is a Belmont, Jaune is good at killing vampires, Maidens Not Guaranteed, Maybe Cinder, Maybe Maidens, maybe not
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2020-09-16
Packaged: 2021-02-27 16:22:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22219993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AllDemStories/pseuds/AllDemStories
Summary: After Jaune Arc was expelled from Beacon for his forges transcripts, he thought his dream was crushed. But after he meets his mysterious grandfather, he learned that maybe he could still be the hero he so longed to be. Three years later he roams the countrysides of Remnant protecting from threats both Grimm and supernatural. Though he may never be recorded in history books, Jaune Belmont is a hero to those he saves.
Comments: 14
Kudos: 13





	1. Beginnings

**Author's Note:**

> The first story from your boy Dem. Hopefully you'll like it

THEN  
“Jaune Arc, you are hereby expelled from Beacon Academy.” The young man stood before the headmaster, Ozpin, and the headmisterss, Glynda Goodwitch, the latter was one on informing him of the worst case scenario he feared would happen if his secret of transcript forgery was found out. Goodwitch wore a frown upon her face, one that gave off a sense of anger and disappointment, and it seemed to strike Jaune to his very core. Of course it would, he was always last in his class when it came to combat, never really winning any sparring matches before his help from Pyrrha. Even afterwards he still had some difficulty, but he was improving. Was seemed to be the operative word at the moment, seeing as how his whole career as a huntsman had just been crushed. Jaune looked from Goodwitch to Ozpin, a neutral look adorned his face, putting down the mug of coffee he was drinking not a moment before.  
“It is quite disappointing,” said the headmaster, never really changing his facial expression, “but we can’t ignore this. I do hope you won’t think poorly of us, but we can’t let something like this go. I do hope that you do find success outside these walls.” With that, Jaune knew the meeting was over, and half-heartedly thanked them for their time before leaving to go back to his dorm to collect his things. As soon as he left the room Ozpin looked at the doors for a few seconds before taking another drink of his coffee. “So much potential, such a shame he was found out.”  
“Headmaster, you knew?” asked Goodwitch, in disbelief. He knew of Arc’s false credentials, and didn’t think of telling her? Why on Remnant didn’t he tell her, they could have dealt with this much sooner. Her question seemed to have no effect of Ozpin, as he continued to drink his coffee. After what seemed like forever, the older man spoke.  
“It doesn’t really matter now, does it,” he said, almost woefully. He knew that Jaune’s transcripts were fact, but he something told him to accept the boy. Watching him during the initiation proved that initial gut reaction true, and he felt like the boy could continue to grow more. No, he knew Jaune could be more, much more than his false transcripts said he was. So he turned a blind eye to the lie, hoping, knowing that Jaune could be better than what others thought him to be. That he was a huntsman destined for greatness. But, others didn’t quite have the same feeling as him, didn’t try to look past initial viewings as he did, and most only saw what they wanted to see. Glynda saw Jaune improve, but to her it was not much, just enough to keep him in the class and nothing more. She had the best interest for the future Huntsmen and Huntresses of Beacon in mind. Maybe that’s why she felt it best to expel him, even if he felt the young man should stay. But his hand was forced, and he needed to kick this young man, so full of potential, out of the one place that could help him reach it. He could only sigh in resignation, Jaune would be blacklisted, no academy in Remnant would take him. But this same gut feeling also told Ozpin that maybe, just maybe, this wouldn’t be the last time he saw him. The headmaster could only hope.

\----------

Jaune made the trek back to his dorm, his head hung in shame, his dream of being a hero crushed, and being forced to be sent back home. Home to the parents that didn’t believe he could be a huntsman. Home to the photos of him and his family, his parents and two of his older sisters who graduated from various hunter academies, while his twin Joan went to a different academy to be a huntress. Home, to where his dreams just couldn’t be. He knew his parents would welcome him home, and try to cheer him up, saying things like that just wasn’t meant to be, or how now he knew how hard it was to be a huntsman. His sisters would scold him for leaving, then they wouldn’t let him be out of their sight for quite a while. He’d chuckle at how over protective they were if the thought hadn’t come at what he felt was the worst moment in his life. The reality of the situation was that he couldn’t be the hero he always wanted to be, and it broke his heart.  
His trance of misery was broken by the whispering of the students around him. He could hear them, just barely, but it was enough. They were talking about him, about his forged transcripts. He could feel their stares. Looking around made them go silent, an obvious tell that it was him they were gossiping about. The question that came to mind was how they found out. Cardin maybe? Maybe, maybe not, Cardin knew it all this time, but even after all that happened, he kept his secret. Maybe he was waiting until he felt was the right time to hurt Jaune.  
It wasn’t long before the former huntsman in training made it back to his dorm room. He found it empty, which left him feeling conflicted. On one hand was relieved that his teammates weren’t there to avoid what may be judgment from them, but on the other he was depressed because he couldn’t say goodbye, or maybe get some good words from them. With a heavy heart he packed his things, focusing on getting this over with, like he was ripping off a band aid. He sheathed the blade and turned to the door. He must not have heard them, but when he turned to the door he saw the rest of team JNPR. An almost deafening silence filled the room, as if the world would end if even a mutter exited one’s mouth.  
“I’m sorry.” Those were the only words that left Jaune’s mouth. The last time he may see them, the last words he might ever say to them and they’re words of regret. He couldn’t even look them in the eyes, he was so full of shame. They must have been hurt by his lie, about how he cheated his way into Beacon. Aside from Pyrrha, Nora and Ren might be given second glances by the other students, that maybe like their leader, they cheated their way into Beacon. Pyrrha would probably have her reputation hurt in some way, but Jaune in his self-pity couldn’t think of it. After what seemed to be eternity, Nora moved towards him. He braced himself for a punch, but instead received a tight hug. Next was Pyrrha who made it a group hug. Only Ren stayed behind. After the hug was broken, Jaune moved to leave, but before he could exit, Ren placed a hand on his shoulder. No words were given, nor were they needed. It was a sign of friendship. Of trust. Now and forever. The four of them, no matter what, would always be team JNPR. A nod was given, and his team let him be on his way.  
He encountered no other friends along his way to the bullhead home. A small part was relieved, running into team RWBY would have broken his heart more than his farewell with his team did. As he boarded his way home he could have sworn he heard someone calling. Sure enough, he saw little Ruby Rose running his way calling his name. Following behind her, but not calling his name was the rest of her team. From the looks of it they were chasing after their leader, who was chasing after him. But she wasn’t going to make it in time, and they all knew it. All except her.  
“Jaune! Wait Jaune,” she cried trying to catch up nearly departing bullhead. She stopped running for just a moment, but it was enough for her team to catch up and hold her. “Stop,” she cried, “I have to get to Jaune, I have to talk to him before he leaves!” The door closed as tears fell from Jaune’s eyes seeing her like this broke the dam of emotions. The last thing he did before he settled into his bane of existence was shoot Ruby a text on her scroll. _Strangers are just friends you haven’t met yet, and I’m glad you and me got to be friends._ Jaune settled in for the long flight, motion sickness medicine at the ready so that he wouldn’t puke on the long flight home.

\-----------

The last couple of days had not been kind to Jaune. Not only did his family react like he expected, there just wasn’t anything to made him want to get out of bed. The only son of John and Irene Arc should be grateful at how his family welcomed him back, other families had disowned others members for less, he knew he should, but the difference of being a student at Beacon and being back in his small hometown was obvious to him. Maybe he hadn’t readjusted, or maybe he just didn’t have the drive to do much, but he spent most of his days in bed, only leaving for food or to use the restroom. It was not great by any definition of the word, but Jaune just wasn’t motivated for much else.  
It was lunch and the family present was there at the table when there was a knock on the door. The matriarch was about to get up, but was met instead with Jaune already up instead.  
“I’ll get it,” he said. To be honest, he was hoping it was someone from Beacon telling him that he was allowed back, or maybe one of his friends. But opening the door he was met with neither. In front of with was an old man, long brown was tied in the back, with a mustache and a long goatee of the same color. He wore a long brown leather jacket over a yellow vest and what looked like a red dress shirt underneath all that, blue chaps, large leather boots, and a red bandana around his neck. Upon his face was a slight scowl. Probably from the travel from wherever to here, Jaune thought to himself. “Can I help you?”  
“Ah, yes,” replied the gentleman, “I’ve come to speak with Irene.”  
“Come in, mom’s this way.” It was strange, Jaune knew this man for all of five seconds, yet he felt like he could trust him. He led him to the dining room where the rest of the family was. He was hoping based on how his family reacted it would determine whether or not he had made the right choice. It didn’t take long before the stranger was brought before the present members of the Arc clan.  
“Juane, honey who wa,” his mother asked, only for the rest of the question to die out of what appeared to be a stupor. Looking to his father there was a glare, almost as if this man was unwelcome. His two oldest sisters, Margret and Elizabeth, looked as if the recognized him. Jaune and the siblings his age and below did not recognize him at all, and if they did, they sure didn’t remember him. “Daddy?” Suddenly the younger members of the family had turned their eyes to their mother. Irene never talked about her father, their grandfather, but here he was.  
“Irene, my baby girl,” the newly revealed grandfather replied, “you look just like your mother, gods rest her soul.” A soft smile adorned his face, one that radiated caring and warmth.  
“Julius”  
“John”  
There was a glaring match between the two men. From what Jaune could gather, neither his father nor grandfather liked each other very much. But then again, Jaune mused, what kind of father would automatically like the man who married his daughter. “Grandfather,” the two eldest said, greeting him. Now that they had greeted him, Margret did make a mention of her and Elizabeth meeting their grandfather before they went off to their respective hunter academies. Margret had described him as a gentleman with a presence, while Elizabeth had called him a cool old dude who could, in her words ‘kick a ton of ass.’  
“It’s always a pleasure to see you girls, I’m glad that you’re both doing quite well and have become great huntresses.”  
“What do you want Julius?” His father wasted no time in cutting to what seemed to be the point of the visit. Probably due in parts to disdain and just wanting the old man out of his house. But just what made his father hate his grandfather so? Usually his father got along with everyone, even people who really didn’t deserve the Arc’s kindness got it. This though, there was no kindness, no trying to understand, no getting along, just pure disdain.  
Julius sighed, no doubt used to his son-in-law’s attitude towards him. Instead of looking at him, he looked towards his daughter. “I’m getting old, Irene, and I can’t keep up with monster hunting forever. One last time, I’ve come back to ask you if any of your kids would be willing to be trained by me and take the name Belmont. I don’t know how much longer I’ll be here, whether it’ll be age that gets me, or a grimm, or the occasional vampire, I want Remnant to not be without a Belmont.” His mother, the leopard faunus, looked solemn.  
“Gods dammit Julius! How many times do I have to tell you get stop spouting that garbage!” His father yelled. “I don’t care if Irene believes you, or even the girls, but I will not have some deadbeat who wasn’t in his daughter’s life for the most part spout utter crap in my home! Get out! GET OUT!” His father red in the face after his one sided screaming match. Julius looked guilt ridden at the accusation of being a deadbeat.  
“Um,” Juane spoke up, “what do you mean vampire? Those are just made up in old stories, or in really crappy or cheesy movies and tv shows.” Of course they were made up, they couldn’t be real. This had to be ramblings of a deranged old man. Vampires and the like were fake, weren’t they?  
“No my boy,” Julius responded, “they are very much real. And just as deadly, sometimes more so, than any grimm. I’ve been doing this a long time.” His expression turns to one of sorrow. “It’s not the easiest life, roaming the country sides of Remnant looking for vampires and werewolves and grimm to slay, but many times when you find them, you find people in need.” Silence filled the air. Margret and Elizabeth had heard this before, they had heard his tale back when they went to Haven Academy. They hadn’t believed him at first. Not until a vampire he had been chasing across the continent made its way into the city. It was poor luck that the sisters ran into it at night, it leaving a literal trail of bodies as it finished its latest victim. He was a huntsman in training, known for being skilled, even though he was a first year. It would have attacked them if not for the timely intervention of their grandfather, who even in his late age did well, and made sure it could never hurt anyone again. Julius had saved their lives, and avenged the deaths of the people the vampire had killed. He made sure his granddaughters were okay, physically and emotionally, before he left. His last words to them before he left Haven was for them to be the best damn huntresses they could be.  
“So monsters and stuff are real? And it’s a Belmont’s duty to kill them?”  
“To roam the countryside protecting the innocent and slaying fiends. A thankless job, but a necessary one.” Julius looked around. He figured that it wouldn’t work out, but he had hoped. Maybe, the old man thought to himself, maybe the time for the Belmont family to end. It’s not like Julius wanted the end of the Belmonts, but if his grandchildren didn’t want to take up both the name Belmont and the whip Vampire Killer, that is just the way it would have to be.  
“I’ll do it.” It wasn’t said hesitantly, it was said half-heartedly, but with simple conviction. The occupants of the dining room looked to the source of the voice, one young Jaune Arc. Various protests from almost everyone in the room were quite loudly said, ranging from his father’s disbelief that his son would believe such nonsense, to his older sisters saying it was too dangerous, and anything in between. But Julius noticed, that there was a fire burning in the boy’s eyes, he wouldn’t be satisfied unless he was helping people. The same flame that his own father said was within him.  
“This isn’t a simple choice; this will affect your life going forward. If you choose this, there’s no going back. This will be your life. I want there to be another Belmont, but I refuse to force on of my grandkids to become the next.” His grandfather’s message rang to Jaune. To take the name Belmont would be to roam Remnant for monsters that he still questioned whether they existed or not. He wouldn’t see his family often, maybe even for a couple of years at a time if he was lucky. He wouldn’t be an Arc; he would be a Belmont. There was more to this than he actually expected. But he knew what his purpose in life was. To help people, to defend people, to attack the creatures that would do harm to innocents.  
“I…I want, no, I need this. All my life I’ve wanted to be a huntsman, to be a hero that would be remembered and admired, but I can’t be that anymore.” Julius understood, he too wanted to be a huntsman, to be a hero so that the people of Remnant would remember he and his family the way he felt they should be, as heroes. “I can help people, I might not be remembered or hailed as a hero, and no one may not know of the things I do, but I’ll know about how I kept them safe even if they don’t. I’ll be the one to carry the torch, if you’ll help me learn.” Julius let out a laugh, and clapped his grandson on the back.  
“If that’s your decision, then pack your bags my boy, and we’ll be off.”  
Never had Jaune packed faster in his life. And while he made sure to pack enough changes of clothes and other essentials, he left a bit of things in his old room. When he was sure he was ready to get on the road, he looked back at Crocea Mors, his trusty weapon back at Beacon. Part of him felt he should take it with him, but the sword and shield was entrusted to the Arc family, and from today onwards, he was a Belmont. He turned off his bedroom light and closed the door behind him. This was a new start for him, and he’d see it through to his fullest. As he and his grandfather left the house, Julius asked him one thing.  
“So, how Jaune, how good are you with a whip?”

\----------

NOW  
In all his years, Heinrich Schmidt had never had to deal with something like this. Sure, people in this little village died to the occasional grimm attack, but nothing like this. Grimm didn’t people’s blood from their body. Grimm don’t leave bodies for people to find. Grimm don’t masquerade in human form. Or whatever that thing was. The elderly man’s thoughts wandered and worry, panic, and terror so fill almost every thought. Would he be safe? Would his daughter be safe? More importantly, would his grandsons be safe? Even imagining a world without his family caused immense dread. He was broken from this horrid trance by the fake cough meant to grab his attention. Before him stood a tall man, long blond hair tied back in a bow just past his shoulder blades. He wore a fanciful yellow vest underneath a black duster, what looked to be jeans to the old man, and large leather boots. What looked to be a small breast plate covered the man’s chest underneath the jacket, and what looked to be pauldrons over the shoulders of the jacket. “Excuse me,” the man said, “but I’m here for a problem you might be having. Human, sharp fangs, ash grey skin?”  
“How did you know?!”  
“I’ve run into others like him, and it’s my duty to stop him. Tell me, where was the last place you saw him?”  
The old man, thought for a moment. “When he…it first arrived in town, it asked about any caverns or caves nearby, said it liked exploring inside them. There’s a cave to the northeast,” he said,” it’s not a long walk, it’s mostly forbidden because of what could possibly be in side.” The nodded as he took in the information.  
“Tell everyone to stay inside, the creature won’t come out until night fall. Which is only an hour or two away.” And with that, the stranger began his trek towards the den of the monster. The old man could only sigh and shake his head, he wanted the handsome stranger to prevail, he really did, but he had seen what that thing had done. If he was smart he would have kept moving, like the old man was considering doing. That said, the man seemed like he knew what he was doing, and he did mention that he had encountered things like this monster before. The old man decided to take the risk and trust this handsome stranger. As quick as his elderly legs would carry him he went around the village relaying the message of the stranger, and telling his fellow villagers about the man. If all went well, the village would know they had been saved. If not, it may even demoralize them, but they would hold on to hope, even if this stranger was their last, and was hanging on by the loosest of threads. They would wait, and come morning they would know whether they had been saved, or whether they had been damned.

\----------

The man made his way to the cavern entrance, the damp smell of dirt and stagnant water filled his nostrils as he entered. Easy parts over, he thought to himself. The forest wasn’t terrible to navigate, and thanks to the old man, he wouldn’t be wandering in the forest looking for the cavern. Alone with a vampire in a cavern was not particularly on his favored places to kill a creature of the night, and if he was being fair, he really didn’t care for any place that had a vampire he was supposed to kill. In all honesty, he just didn’t care for vampires. Just thinking about the lives this thing took made him angry, but he had to calm himself. If he wasn’t on his A-game, the bloodsucker would be much harder to kill, although not impossible.  
Steeling himself, he grabbed the whip from its place on his hip and held it at the ready. He had to be ready, monsters, in his experience, tended to ambush their victims, unless they were arrogant or smug. Like a werewolf who had killed all the hunters in one village. It had gotten cocky, and didn’t even think for a moment that it could be killed. Then he showed up, and using his training and his trusty whip, had killed it. Near death it even had the audacity to beg for its life, to try and bargain for him not killing it. But he knew that the monster didn’t mean any of the words it said, it was a cornered animal, and the moment he turned his back to hit, it would attack him. Only once had he fought a werewolf that was genuinely repentant for its actions. He let it, her, live so she could make amends, and maybe protect the innocent from creatures like her. That last werewolf wasn’t her. So he killed it.  
Shaking his head from his thoughts, he saw his quarry, standing and looking right at him. His grip tightened on the whip.  
“So they send someone to try and kill me?” The vampire asked with a chuckle. “This has to be a joke, weaklings like you could never defeat a creature such as I,” it said. Arrogant, but then again, a great deal of them were. “Then again,” it said after looking him and down, “you look delicious, when I go out tonight I should thank them for the wonderful morsel they sent me.” The cocky creature had a smirk, although not for very long, because as soon it finished talking it was struck in the face with the whip.  
“AARRRHHGG!” It clutched its face in pain. How? It had been struck with weapons before, but never had they ever caused such pain. So what was different about this? Why had this simple whip of his caused it so much pain?  
“Let’s just get this over with,” the man said, like it was dealing with a nuisance and not a vampire.  
“I will feast on your entrails!” The vampire charged him, too focused on its anger and pain to really have any strategy. It would lead to his death. Quickly came the second and third strikes from the whip. An older, more experienced vampire would know better, take the pain better, and have a chance. The man had personally experienced such vampires before, and were a nasty lot to deal with, and was never quite sure he’d walk away with his life. Vampires like this were fresh in their undeath, too full of themselves to even realize that they may not be at the top like they thought they were. There were people in Remnant that could hunt vampires, defeat them, kill them, and older vampires knew this and planned against it. The old ones that seemed arrogant and cocky usually had the skills, experience, power to back up such claims. But this one was not. It wailed when the whip struck it and stopped its charge, it let its pain and anger affect its decision making. Its actions were sloppy, and it didn’t even attempt to dodge, as if it charging in a straight line was going to magically allow it to make an easy kill. It only took a couple more strikes before it died, its body crumbling to dust upon death, like all vampires.  
“I’ll be honest, I was hoping for more of a fight,” the man said to himself. Most vampires he faced dodged, made sure to actually put up a fight. They got in striking distance, attacked, then moved to an advantageous position, never getting greedy. A similar strategy he himself made sure to follow. But the fact that this vampire screamed and essentially cried, he knew it wasn’t going to put up much of a fight. And it was a shame, it had been a good month or two since he fought his last vampire back in the small town of Patch. And while it certainly wasn’t the strongest vampire he’d faced in his life, it had at least put up a fight and lasted longer than a few minutes. After letting out a sigh, he turned around and headed back to the village, coiling the whip back up and attaching it to the strap that held it on his hip. Quickly the disappointment of a missed battle dissipated when he knew that the people of the village wouldn’t be troubled by the vampire anymore. This time he breathed a sigh of relief, he always felt better when he knew that innocent people were saved.

\----------

“Thank you, sir,” the old man, “we can now sleep safely again knowing you took care of the creature.” When they saw the man sleeping in the wagon he rode into town in, they knew had succeeded in his task. The entire village was clamoring with thank you’s, some even tried to convince him to stay. The baker even promised him his daughter’s hand in marriage if he stayed, much to her embarrassment, although he declined, which left her oddly saddened. “Where will you go now?” The man seemed to think on this question, not really having thought on where he’d go initially. He always just roamed the countryside. But there was a city that was only a couple of days by horse, and from the map he had looked over preparing things for the road, there was a road that branched off of the one he would be leaving.  
“Vale, I think.” It had been three years since he’d been there, and he’d wondered how much different it was, if at all, since he’d left. The man would spend a couple days there, drink in the sights before departing.  
“If I may sir, what is your name?” They had to know, no, they needed to know the name of their savior. The man smiled, gave a tug on the reins of his horse and as his horse moved forward he responded.  
“Jaune Belmont”


	2. Back In Vale

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The young Belmont makes his way into Vale, although his first day back might not be as boring and uneventful as he may have liked

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this took longer than I had originally planned. An increase of shifts at work, marathoning the first two seasons of RWBY so I'd be able to get their characterization right for when I do the appropriate flashbacks and for bits and pieces during this story eventually while looking up how they are currently and their season 7 looks (I think it's obvious I won't be doing Jaune's season 7 look), and a bit of writer's block all contributed to this chapter taking almost three weeks. I'm also working on a second story which I'll be posting hopefully by the weekend. This also cut into my Jaune Belmont time. I also don't know why tab won't work here, and having to press space a bunch of times because this site won't copy my tabs from word is kind of annoying. Help is appreciated. Anyway, here's the current chapter. Hopefully the next one won't take as long.

**THEN**

“Snow angel?” Julius couldn’t contain his laughter. His grandson really thought that was a good nickname, and that he kept using it when flirting (and rather poorly, he might) with the Schnee girl Jaune was telling him about? The embarrassment on his grandson’s face only made him laugh harder. This kept going for a few minutes, the older Belmont laughing while the younger gave his grandfather an embarrassed glare. Finally, the laughter died down, and Julius took a moment to brush the almost formed tears out his eyes. “Jaune m’boy, what made you think that a nickname she obviously didn’t like, and the constant over the top flirting were gonna do anything?”

“Well,” Jaune said, rubbing his neck and looking away in embarrassment, “dad said that all a man needed was confidence to get a woman to like him. I mean, it worked for him, so it would have had to work for me too, right?” The old vampire hunter looked at his grandson and sighed. The boy meant well, and he had a good head on his shoulders. The problem though was that he was, to put it mildly, socially awkward, and maybe a bit naïve in his opinion. Jaune wore his heart on his sleeve, for better or worse. You could tell when he was happy, angry, or sad, he didn’t try to hide it. Or maybe he couldn’t, maybe he was terrible at trying to mask his emotions, so he didn’t bother putting on a front.

“Jaune, you father is an idiot, and how my baby girl fell for him, I will never know.” Julius would nip John’s terrible advice in the bud before his grandson would destroy any chance at him having a love life completely. “I would have never been able to get your grandmother to go on a date with me, let alone marry her if I just approached her with confidence alone. She was a fiery faunus who took no one’s crap, and may the gods help whoever pissed her off. Miranda was a one of a kind woman.” He smiled at the memories of his late wife. “Women don’t want a man who has overconfidence, they want a man with personality, especially one that doesn’t scream being a colossal twat. Be yourself and not the person you think that you should be.” Hopefully this would let Jaune stop trying so hard, and maybe secure his grandson a date one day.

“Thanks grandad.” Jaune had met his eyes once again, a glimmer of in the boy’s eyes.

“Don’t thank me just yet, we’ve got plenty of work cut out for us tomorrow working on your ability to use a whip.”

\----------

For the two months Jaune had been traveling with his grandfather, he had been training him to use a whip. Every. Single. Day. For hours on end it was whip lessons. Even when they were on the road it was either whip lessons or how to identify and track various monsters. And while Jaune would not deny that under the old man’s tutelage his skill had greatly improved, it was quite a hurdle for the young man. Plus, Julius was not yet satisfied with Jaune’s level of proficiency. _Only when you become good enough with a whip will I begin teach you other weapons and skills._ The vampire hunter practically hammered the point of learning the whip into his grandson’s head, whether he liked it or not.

Julius compared what he was doing with Jaune as cramming a lifetime of training into him in a short time. Normally, he told him, this training would never be this intense, and that these skills were honed over the years, with a more diverse lesson plan that the previous generation teaches the next. However, since Irene never wanted to take up monster hunting, and due to the Belmont duty, he was never really in his grandson’s life until recently, the lessons had to be constant and many. And while Jaune didn’t have to like it, it was necessary for his growth into his position as Julius’ successor. And so this would be what Jaune’s routine, whip training, monster study, more whip training, more monster study.

It wouldn’t be until he had spent eight months with his grandfather that Jaune’s whip skills came to be the approved standards Julius set. Of course, to Jaune this was a hard earned victory. His grandfather’s lessons were not the easiest he’s ever had to endure. In fact, Julius put Jaune through more than Beacon ever did. Unlike Beacon however, Julius was very hands on with his grandson’s training. Need a way to get a whip strike done faster than necessary? Here’s how you do it. Different ways to identify if you’re actually dealing with a vampire, and if so, what kind? Here’s the family bestiary, and these are the pages where you can find everything you’ll need to know on vampires. But, in the minds of both Belmonts this was worth it.

“Now that you’ve mastered the whip Jaune, we’ll move on to the shortsword.”

Jaune looked incredulously, there was more than just the whip? As if reading his grandson’s mind, Julius responded, “While the whip may be the Belmont family’s primary weapon, you’ll be learning more than just that. The shortsword isn’t the first weapon you’ll have learned, and it won’t be the last. You won’t always be able to rely on the whip.” The young Belmont, while he may not have liked it, did agree. There were pros and cons to their family’s weapon of choice, and it would be wise to have a back-up or two on hand. Besides, Pyrrha was training him in swordplay so his grandfather shouldn’t have to put too much work into this new training. “Catch.” Jaune was broken out of his stupor when his grandfather threw something to him. Catching it, Jaune saw that it was a wooden shortsword, not dissimilar to ones that kids and young teens get sometimes from fairs.

“That shortsword, while wood, weighs the exact same as standard shortsword that we Belmonts use.” Julius drew his own wooden swordsword, and went into a stance. “Now, let’s begin.”

\----------

**NOW**

Jaune awoke in the back of his wagon, as it was raining last night so he couldn’t camp out. Grabbing some feed out of the back, he exited the coach and walked around to his horse. After getting his horse some food, it was time for him to feed himself. Unfortunately, he had spent all but the last of his lien getting horse feed, and he didn’t bother asking for payment or anything of the sorts back in the small village a couple of days ago. So he decided it would have to wait until he reached Vale, which wouldn’t really be an issue since it should be a couple hours away. His stomach would have to rumble until then. As soon as he had everything all packed up, ready, and was on his way, he couldn’t help but think back to his dreams, to where he could relive the memories of him and his grandfather. A small smile spread across the young man’s face at the memory he dreamed of last night, when his grandad started his shortsword training. He could practically feel the purple bruises on his arms and legs from back then, that stinging sensation, but even though he could almost feel the pain in his arms at Julius’ training, he would look fondly of those memories. Those two years he spent with his grandad were, in Jaune’s own opinion, the best two years of his life.

The smile thinned and turned into a frown. This last year had been tough. The young Belmont had been on his own since that day Julius died when the two fought an incredibly dangerous vampire. Jaune was able to kill the monster, with rage and despair in his heart. Afterwards he made sure his grandfather got the proper burial he deserved. It was unfortunate that only Irene Arc was able to show up to the funeral. A part of his hear broke that day watching his mom devolve into a sobbing mess. It didn’t help that he was borderline sobbing too. But he stayed strong, for his mother, and for his grandfather. He wouldn’t let everything Julius did for him go to waste. So, the day after the funeral he set out, with the Vampire Killer on his hip, to roam the countryside of Vale and beyond, to fulfil his duty as a Belmont.

Jaune brushed aside these thoughts, he didn’t need to start the day sulking over the past. Besides, he was going to the city of Vale, a place he hadn’t been to in three years, and he wouldn’t let his mood be soured on his way to the famous city. Other thoughts consumed his mind on the trek. How was everyone at Beacon doing? Did JNPR get a new member? Did Ren become team leader, or did Pyrrha? Obviously it wasn’t Nora, you couldn’t have a leader whose first option to a situation is to break legs, literally. Would he recognize his former team? Would they recognize him? He had changed since the last time they saw him, physically and emotionally. These same questions ran through his mind about team RWBY. If the vampire hunter was being honest he was worried about what they would say if they saw him again. At least his team had gotten to say goodbye, Ruby just got a text on her scroll. He didn’t much talk to Blake, most of his encounters with Yang were her teasing him, and Weiss tolerated him when he wasn’t flirting with her, so where he stood with them was unclear. Maybe he would see about looking them up if he felt brave enough to face his former peers.

Jaune continued to let his mind wander until he reached the gates of the city of Vale. Large was an understatement, but then again, these walls were meant to keep the Grimm out, so they had to be. A few simple questions from the guards and he was waved on through. Although he did chuckle at the looks they gave him. Most people arrive in Vale via boat or bullhead, but hear comes a man riding on a horse and carriage. Although he did slightly hesitate when one of the guards insulted his wagon. Yes, technically it was outdated, but it was his outdated wagon and he wouldn’t trade it for the world. Not the first time this has happened, and it wouldn’t be the last.

It took a while to find a place to stable his horse, but after a bit of ‘negotiating,’ the owner agreed to collect payment at the end of his stay in Vale, which meant that he would need to find some way of making money while he was here. Maybe there was a group of Grimm that needed to be cleared out by the walls? Unlikely, after all Beacon students probably handle that. He could always see if there was a sword fighting contest. A big town like this may sometimes have contests like this with a decent cash payout, and wandering around it looked like there was something fair like going on, although obviously not the Vytal Festival. The final option was doing some security work, albiet temporary. Option three was never great because they always wanted him to stay, but most of the time he would have to be on the road. “Here’s hoping for option two,” he said to himself as he wandered around the commercial district. After turning the corner, he found one of his goals today, a butchery. Wandering through the small store, he looked over all different kinds and cuts of meat. After looking around, he walked to the back of the store. Behind the desk in a bloody apron was a large bear fanus woman, looking to be in her late thirties.

“What’ll it be for ya?” She asks, an unusually soft sounding voice coming from this gruff looking woman.

“What can I get for a single lien?”

The woman slices off a portion of dried goat and hands it to him. Jaune takes the meat and handles her his single lien offering a polite ‘thank you.’ “Please do come again” she says as she gets back to working with the meat.

\----------

With breakfast in hand, and soon to be in stomach, the young Belmont walked around the commercial district. Back when he was a student he spent most of his time when not training with Pyrrha or doing school work playing games in his dorm or finding some hair brained scheme to get Weiss to notice him and give him a chance. He did however know most pancake places, simply for the fact that Nora would practically drag her teammates there if she ‘was feeling the urge.’ They were banned from almost half of them. But wandering through the city and glancing at all the places he went with his team or on the rare instance that members of team RWBY invited him to hang out filled him with warmth and a sense of happiness. He was interrupted from his thoughts when he felt a person run into him, and cause said person to fall over. Quickly glancing down he saw it was a young black haired woman.

“Excuse me miss, may I give you a hand?” Yellow eyes looked up and met Jaune’s blue eyes. A nod of affirmation and Jaune extended his hand, which she quickly grabbed and pulled herself up. Looking her over he found her to be a cat faunus, whose black hair was while not long, did extend down to her shoulders. A white long jacket covered a dark blue jumpsuit, both of which seemed to have way too many zippers for such simple pieces of clothing. Jaune felt like he knew her from somewhere, but he just couldn’t place his finger on it. She kinda reminded him of Bla…. oh, crap.

This had to be Blake. Unless there was some other black haired, yellow eyed, silent type cat fanus in Vale that appeared in the time he was gone. _‘Curse this Blemont luck’_ Jaune thought to himself, knowing that his family was essentially the poster children for the phrase ‘wrong place, wrong time.’ His ancestor Simon was cursed saving the people of Vale from a powerful vampire, which he somehow had to bring back and kill again to remove it. His further back ancestor Trevor saved his future wife saving from being a stone statue by killing a cyclops and needing to defeat the most powerful vampire at the time from wiping out humans and faunus life in Mistral with her and two more companions help, only to have to go off almost immediately after to some castle in Atlas where shenanigans were happening caused by followers of said vampire. Those were obviously more extreme examples, very much so, but the point still stood, Belmonts have terrible luck. And now, this happy little accident was just another instant of good ol’ Belmont luck in Jaune’s life.

He was not prepared for this. Teams RWBY and NPR were ones he really hoped to not encounter on his visit here. He had entertained the thought of going to see them, but it was going to be on his terms gods dammit! This was not supposed to happen, not like this. He was broken from his internal screaming when she appeared to try to say something to him.

“I’m sorry miss,” he said, trying to keep his composure, “I was distracted for a moment, could you repeat that?”

“I was just thanking you,” she said, not minding his distracted mind from a moment ago. Though he looked like he had something on his mind. “Is something wrong?”

“No, no, it’s just, I used live around here, and I don’t quite remember something like this happening around this time of year. Then again, I haven’t been here in three years.”

The faunus let out a slight chuckle. “This started after the Vytal festival three years ago. It’s nothing more than a little ‘thing’ Vale does to try and get both citizens and hunters in training to have fun together. There’s even a dueling contest. Hunter students mostly enter to show off their skills and stroke their egos. The citizens, depending on their age, want to try and impress any possible Beacon teachers if they’re the age to send in transcripts, wanting to maybe take, in their own opinion, take arrogant Beacons kids down a peg, or just see how they do. Although neither mind the cash prize for first place.”

The vampire hunter perked up at that, internally celebrating. _Option two, hell yeah!_ “And how much does that payout to?”

Blake chuckled at his cheerful reaction to hearing a cash prize. “Ten thousand lien, if I remember correctly, although I never really cared much for the contest so I can’t really be sure.”

‘Ten thousand?!’ The amount of money surprised him. That would be more than enough to pay for his horse’s stay, room and board, and supplies for the amount of time he would be spending in Vale. He might even have money left over that he could save for the next town or two. He would definitely be entering, he needed the money, and he really didn’t want to go with option three. He quickly got directions to where it was and giving a fast thank you, he quickly made his way over in that direction, not realizing or noticing that he had just left her.

\----------

“Wait, I didn’t get your…name.” Blake Belladona didn’t even get to finish her sentence before the stranger had just up and left. He seemed sort of familiar to the faunus, like she knew him from somewhere, but she couldn’t place where. Maybe later today she’d ask around, see if anyone matching his description had lived somewhere around here when he claimed he had. It seemed to her like he may have some air of mystery around him, and if she was being honest, it intrigued her.

“So partner, who was tall, blond, and handsome?” Of course Yang was watching, her partner was always there when teasing opportunities arose, and everything that had just happened with the handsome stranger would be definitely be something she’d hear about later. Maybe repeatedly.

“Just a guy who came back after moving away Yang,” she said, “wanted to know about today and where somethings were.” Honestly, she would much rather be back at their dorm reading the new book she bought, but as with last year, and the two before that, she was here, all to support…

“Weiss! Look over here, I found them!” And there’s Ruby, calling to the heiress in question who has participated in the dueling contest these past couple of years. Looking over she saw the prim and proper heiress with the plucky ball of energy that was Ruby Rose. Much to her surprise, team JNPR was with her. Usually the sibling team did their own thing, not really caring about things like this. Pyrrha didn’t really need to participate, seeing it as unfair, Ren wasn’t into this sort of thing, Joan cared more about her studies than competing in some contest, and Nora was Nora. So seeing them with Ruby and Weiss was something she wasn’t expecting. As it was, it was turning out to be a weird morning, but in the years Blake’s been at Beacon, weird was only a stone’s toss away. Throw the two sibling teams into the mix and you’ve got not just the weirdos, but the woodwork they come out of.

“Why do we need to be here?” Joan asked as the group rejoined and began moving towards the area to sign up. “We already know that Weiss will win, it’s been the exact same situation since the duels started, so we could have just stayed at the dorms.” A valid point, but it could have been said in a much nicer way. But apparently after her brother ran away from home she stopped sugarcoating her words. Gods help him when she finally finds him.

“But Joan,” Ruby whined, “we have to show up to support Weiss. As leader of team RWBY, I must be here to support her. Besides, me and Weiss are besties, and who wouldn’t want the support of their bestie?” Weiss rolled her eyes, but didn’t argue with her energetic leader. These three years really melted the ice queen. _Gods, I sound like Yang._ They had changed for the better, all of them had. _Repelled the White Fang when they launched an attack on Beacon, JNPR got sent on a mission that put them through Ren’s old village and avenged his parents’ death, Pyrrha finally found a place where she finally feels like she belongs, thanks to all these things and more, we’ve all changed for the better._ Of course, Pyrrha never quite got the chance to tell Jaune how she felt about him, but she’s more or less made peace with that.

As they approached the area, the hunters-in-training noticed there were fewer entrants than the last two years. Usually there was over twenty people here, but now there was only eleven, twelve if you counted Weiss. There were no familiar faces either. Usually there were members of team CRDL here, but not even Cardin himself was here. Team CVFY wasn’t here either, although they had graduated last year and were busy with missions, so it really didn’t surprise them that they weren’t here. Coco had entered twice, but since her weapon was a Gatling gun inside a case, it really didn’t surprise anyone that she only lasted a round or two, usually losing to Velvet. _They always seemed to enter the same bracket, strangely enough._ Looking around, the people seemed to be a couple of older men with sun kissed skin, farmers if the faunus had to guess, some younger kids, probably Beacon hopefuls, what looked to be a young mercenary, a fuming housewife, and the well-dressed stranger from earlier.

The blond stranger got more than a couple lingering looks from team RWBY, although some probably wouldn’t admit it. Weiss was too proud, even though see was now more like a team mom rather than the prideful snob back in their freshman year. Ruby, bless her heart, was still innocent in matters of the romance, and this man apparently was attractive and hard to look away from, much to her embarrassment. Yang was unapologetically ogling this man, much to her sister’s increasing embarrassment. Even Blake gave a couple of momentary glances.

Team JNPR’s gaze seemed fix on the man. But, as far as Blake could guess, it wasn’t like how her team was giving the man looks. They seemed almost contemplative. The stranger had their undivided attention, and to team RWBY, this was odd. Even Nora, whose response to a situation was usually ‘break their legs,’ was quiet. After a while their gaze left the man. In the eyes of Joan and Nora there was a look that said ‘I know this guy, I know I know him, how do I know him.” In the eyes of Ren and Pyrrha however, they were looks of recognition. They did know this man, and to be able to recognize him they must have known him quite well. In fact, Ren was actually walking over there and began to talk to him, although whatever they were talking about made the man nervous. Ren came back a couple of minutes later, he seemingly got the answers he was looking for.

“Who are you, mystery man?” Blake whispered to herself.

After about an hour of on again off again wonder of the blonde man, the dueling contest had officially begun and everyone picked a different wooden weapon from the rack made available.

“Alright everyone, I want a nice clean match. Nothing below the belt, and I’ll be the one to determine whether or not an entrant is able to continue.” Basic rules, but still necessary. The referee pulled a list out of her pants pocket and read aloud.

“The first match is Jaune Belmont vs Manuel Cobalt.”

The exact same thought ran through almost everyone’s mind, although only Ruby vocalized it.

“Jaune?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So not my best, but the next ones should be better. Jaune, now that your old friends and Joan know you're here in Vale, and haven't contacted them in the time you've been gone, how will this play out? Will you survive? Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter, or were at at least alright with it. Hopefully I'll see you soon.


	3. Reunion Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jaune encounters his former classmates and his younger twin sister, but something sinister is laying beneath Vale

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH  
> THIS SHOULD NOT HAVE TAKEN EIGHT MONTHS TO WRITE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

**THEN**

Jaune fell to the ground, gasping for breath, bruised and battered. It was not an uncommon occurrence, for this was the usual outcome of his grandfather’s shortsword training. Or the practical as he put it. Julius had taught him the stances, the correct way to swing a blade, how to take advantage of a mistake of both his and his opponent’s, how to parry, how to wield a blade. But meant very little to them. Sure, you could go through the motions, but that means nothing if you can’t practice against someone who knew what they were doing. The real world was not a kind place, let alone the dark where the Belmonts would have to go to rid Remnant of the creatures of the night. Just surviving a creature of the night wasn’t easy, one wrong move could prove fatal, add in only being proficient with one weapon? He wouldn’t last five minutes against any decent vampire if he was separated from his whip, Jaune knew this. He hadn’t been so stubborn like he was at the beginning of his time at Beacon. It also helped that his grandfather had been hammering in the fact that any monster hunter worth his salt, Belmont or not, needed a wide arsenal to draw from, whether that be proficiency with weapons or knowledge of his target. Julius would his help his grandson master the shortsword, even if he had to beat it in to him.

“I think that’s enough for tonight Jaune.”

“No, I can keep going” the young Belmont replied. He needed to continue, he needed to improve. He wanted to show his grandfather he wasn’t wasting him time. Realistically Jaune knew that wasn’t the case, but he felt like he had to prove himself to his grandfather. And partially to himself.

“You can barely stand, let alone continue fighting. You’re getting better, you’re already a great deal better than when we started, but this is where today’s practical ends.”

Jaune tried to stand, to prove that he could continue, but sure enough, his body refused to stand more than a couple seconds. Every time he tried he ended up falling on his rear, wounding his pride. After five attempts, he gave up until his grandfather offered him a hand. Taking it, Julius helped his grandson to the makeshift seats at their camp they’d set up. It had come to the two Belmonts attention that the people of this town were having a missing persons problem, particularly around a large lake about half a kilometer away from the town. The people cried White Fang, at least they did until well-respected faunas members of the community disappeared too, leaving only their children behind. Of course Jaune and Julius had an idea about what was causing this, and they were certain it wasn’t the grimm.

After an hour of rest, the Belmonts then proceeded to get to work

\----------

**NOW**

This was not how Jaune wanted the reunion between he and his friend from Beacon to go. His sister was there too! Honestly, all he wanted to do was stop in for a few days, make some lien, and maybe just walk around the city in a way he never could back when he was a huntsman in training, always busy with training or school work. But here he was, about to go toe to toe with wooden swords against a man who looked to be a farmer, and suddenly people he hasn’t spoken to in a couple of years recognize him. Curse this Belmont luck of his, it always found a way of biting him in the ass. _Focus Jaune, you’re a Belmont, and Belmonts don’t panic. I’ll have to find some way to deal with team RWBY, my… former teammates, and Joan. For now, I need to concentrate on the fight ahead of me._ He took a quick breath before taking to the stage, grabbing a wooden shortsword. He felt more comfortable using his family’s whip, hell, thanks to his grandfather’s training the weapon he found most comfortable was a whip. But even if he could use his own weapons, Jaune wouldn’t use his whip against this man. To use the Vampire Killer, his ancestral magic whip, against some farmer from some bordering village, why he might just kill the guy, and that is the last thing the young Belmont wanted. So he would use what was given to him, this wooden weapon, and get the money.

To teams RWBY and JNPR there was mixed feelings, on one hand the ladies (sans Joan) had discovered that over the last couple of years Juane got hot, if Beacon Jaune was a hamburger, this new Jaune was prime rib. On the other hand, Jaune had made no efforts to contact them, not Ruby, not his old team, not even his twin sister. The only thing she heard about Jaune was that he ran off with their nutter of a grandfather, her father’s words, not her own. According to the Arc patriarch, _‘Jaune ran off with your grandfather, and the old nutter has your brother believing in vampires and boogeymen and other made up nonsense.’_ A couple of her older sisters argued in favor of their grandfather, claiming that he wasn’t a doddering old man like John Arc said he was, and that Julius Belmont was doing Remnant a service. She had since had two updates from her family about her brother, who had been informed from Jaune and Julius via letters. The first was from Julius Belmont, and said that Jaune was alive and well, and had been progressing in his studies. The second came half a year after the first, and was from Jaune himself. Although the letter this time had him cast off the Arc name, and take their grandfather’s last name, to show who he is rather than who he was. It was her mother who had given her this update, John absolutely furious that not only had Jaune essentially say that he wasn’t coming home, to the Arc patriarch, the only son of the Arc family had taken the side of a man that should have never come in contact with his family. Margret and Elizabeth seemed to think that their brother was going to improve. Elizabeth claimed that their brother was going to, in her words, ‘kick lots of ass.’

On the other hand, no one really knew what Jaune was like now. Why hadn’t he contacted them? Where had he been? It was obvious he changed physically, but what about mentally? Did he have an ego? Was he cruel? It was possible that he might not be even anywhere close to the person that they used to know. These thoughts went through the heads of the Beacon students.

“Jaune Belmont vs Manuel Cobalt. Combatants at the ready. Begin!”

It was over in a flash. With more skill than they’d ever seen him capable of, Jaune had defeated his opponent.

“Whoa, looks like Vomit Boy got some skills these last couple of years.” Yang wasn’t wrong. From what Pyrrha could tell, he was worlds apart from where he was back when he was a Beacon student. Although the fact that he hadn’t chosen a longsword confused her. Crocea Mors was a longsword, so obviously he should have chosen what he was used to. But it had been three years, anything was possible. Looking over to Joan, she could only describe her team leader as absolutely livid. The rest of team JNPR had heard from her that Jaune had run away from home. She really didn’t share much of the details other than that at the first chance he got, he ran away from home, and hadn’t returned since. Her patience towards the older twin had waned over the years, from Jaune being stubborn or doing things that just got on her nerves. Running off with false transcripts to Beacon, knowing nothing about Aura, Semblances, or anything that one would learn at the school prior to their Huntsman academy training. He was a child in a man’s body that refused to grow up. He was never going to be a huntsman, all of the family could see it, even if most didn’t want to tell him. Saphron and Terra had gotten married and moved away, Margret and Elizabeth were Huntresses, and she was at her own school. And now he was here in front of her. Of course, she was going to wait until the event was over, she refused to make a scene in the middle of the street in the middle of the day. Afterwards? She was dragging his ass home. The closest he is ever going to get to being a Huntsman is marrying a Huntress.

The dueling event went as usual in regards to Weiss, she handily defeated every opponent that she went up against. Even despite having mellowed out over the last couple of years, there was still her pride. Pride as a Schnee. Pride as a Huntress (even if she was just one in training). Pride as a warrior. It was hard work and skill that allowed her to claim victory. And while she was nowhere near close to the power house that was Yang Xiao Long, or the ever unbeatable champion that was Pyrrha Nikos, she was still a skill combatant. Leagues beyond the usual people would compete in such things. Under no normal circumstances would she compete in such contests like this, it would almost seem like bullying the weak, and she had the pride to not bully the weak. Even when Jaune, the weakest student in all of Beacon was attending the academy, she never once insulted him or berated him like Cardin and his stooges did. Then why was she participating in a contest with people so much weaker than her? The answer was somewhat simple, and somewhat complex.

The first year this contest was announced, Weiss had no intention of joining in. No one in Beacon did. Between classes, training, and the occasional mission here and there, there was no time. That didn’t mean she wasn’t going to be there though. Ruby and Nora had dragged teams RWBY and JNPR, which had only weeks prior had their former leader replaced with his younger twin sister. They thought that maybe there would be cool weapons there, or that maybe there was a secret powerhouse that would surprise the Beacon students. For the most part, there wasn’t, much to the dismay of both Nora and Ruby. The was however one man that did stand out. A man from Atlas named Matt McGee. He had insulted Weiss, her family and its reputation, her skills, and most importantly, her team. So she entered. And she defeated every opponent that crossed her path for the entire contest. She and Matt faced off in the final round. Maybe it was her attitude back then, maybe it wasn’t, but she couldn’t bring herself to believe that such an arrogant and all around bland looking man could really amount to anything. That he could even come close to her level was something she couldn’t conceive. And maybe it was this arrogance in that point of time blinded her to his skill. She had won the first contest, but she had almost lost to the man. Was it her pride, some well-deserved and some misplaced, that lead to her to her defeat? Or was he just that skilled? To this day, even with her much humbler than she originally was, she couldn’t really answer the question.

And it was that day that, when she almost tasted defeat, that she would participate in the contest again, whenever it was held again, if it was held again. The thought that maybe there was someone unassuming that could hold such skill oddly enough made her excited. She had never really felt like this before. It was a new sensation, and much to her surprise, she liked it. Before she when she faced an opponent that was close to her level in skill, in both school spars and in her family training her in the use of a rapier, and she almost lost, she would generally be accept the victory in stride. That while it may have a challenge, it was meant to be that she would emerge victorious. But that was from experienced fighters that she knew about beforehand. But Matt McGee was an unknown variable. He didn’t look like he had the skills to back up his claims.

Which brings her back to the current place and time, Jaune Arc, after having not seen him for three years, had returned to Vale unannounced. And more importantly, much more skilled. Away was his family’s longsword and shield, otherwise he would have chosen a wooden sword of that length. No, he had chosen the a shortsword, which meant that at some point he had someone teach him the way of the shortsword. It was almost like Jaune was a completely different person. This was a new Jaune, a challenge she had not foreseen in a million years. She was interested to see how he stacked up.

“Jaune Belmont vs Weiss Schnee. Combatants at the ready. Begin!”

In a flash Jaune and his wooden blade were upon her. His strikes were that of an experienced swordsman, well aimed and expertly time. If she were one of the newer students at Beacon, she would have already lost. She however was not. She was Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, Huntress-in-training, and one of Beacon’s most talented students. Jaune’s strikes were blocked and parried well for the most part, some were avoided, and some connected. She would not be stuck on the defensive however. With a well-timed parry, she had opened him up and began her assault. Her strikes were swift and elegant, yet effective. She was a seasoned fencer, and even if there wasn’t a rapier to use, she was still skilled enough to use a wooden shortsword as if it were her weapon of choice, albiet not to the same extent. Not that she was on the offensive, she would see how he was defensively. He responded much the same as her, blocking, parrying, and avoiding when he could. The fact that he stood against her so well was a testament to how much he had improved.

The fight went on much like this, trading between offense and defense on both sides. Through the entire thing neither side gained or lost ground, it was even footing between two trained warriors. There was never a match quite like this outside of academy spars, or at the Vytal Festival. It was quite a spectacle, so much so that it began to draw a crowd. Slowly more and more people began to gather around. It was almost like a dance, wooden swords clashing almost beautifully.

It was sudden, but after a well-timed parry, Jaune had moved away from her a bit, just out of reach of her. His eyes were focused and his guard up. Weiss too had back up, fixing her stance and returning to form. Neither combatant moved a muscle, analyzing the other in an attempt to obtain victory, to somehow turn the tide so the battle would no longer be on equal footing.

To the Beacon Academy students, this was a shock. Not only was Jaune suddenly, maybe, back in their lives, but he was standing toe to toe with Weiss, when three years ago he could barely face off against members of team CRDL.

“Holy shit” said Yang, at a loss for words, barely believing what she was seeing.

“Indeed” replied Pyrrha. Normally she would never agree to that kind of language, but this was a special case.

Aside from that exchange, both the two fighters and the crowd were deathly silent, so much so that they all could have heard a pin drop. The silence seemed to go on forever, almost painfully, before Weiss decided to strike. Fast and precise, as all her attacks seemed to be, although they almost seemed forced at this point. And Jaune took advantage of this by doing the unexpected, he moved slightly so that the blow would hit his shoulder, instead of the chest as the heiress intended. As soon as her sword connected, the Belmont made one final strike at her with his weapon, put a bit more force behind the swing than he had previously throughout the bout. The blow not only landed, but left Weiss slightly winded, enough so that he was able to disarm her with his sword.

“The match is over! The winner of this year’s contest is Jaune Belmont!”

The man did a bow towards the crowd as they clapped for him, and there were even a few people that cheered for him. The only ones who didn’t clap or cheer was teams JNPR and RWBY. They were too flabbergasted as what they had just witnessed. Jaune had beat Weiss. If you had told any of them three years ago that Jaune Arc would best Weiss Schnee in combat, they would have never believed you. Sure, Nora, Ren, and Pyrrha might not have vocalized it if asked, but they wouldn’t believe it. Joan would have never believed it in her life. Her wimpy brother, older than her by thirteen minutes, who couldn’t ride a single bullhead without releasing the entire contents of his stomach.

The shock lasted just long enough for them to see Jaune collect his winnings before he made eye contact with them. The was a moment of hesitation between the students and him, much like how he and Weiss were at the tail end of the fight.

 _What do I do? What do I do?!_ Jaune’s mind was racing, the adrenaline was wearing off and he was suddenly back to the unease he was feeling when Ren had come over to him prior to the contest. Thoughts and ideas came to the vampire hunter in waves in mere moments, but none of them seemed good enough. _I guess there’s only one thing to do…_

Jaune Belmont turned tail and ran away.

This left hunters-in-training shocked for a second time, before they did the only reasonable thing to do. They chased after him. They failed to notice that they had left Weiss behind.

\----------

Escaping your former schoolmates was harder than Jaune thought. They chased him around Vale for what seemed like hours to him. Of course whether or not it was actually hours, he really didn’t know. After all, he had taken several blows from Weiss in the dueling contest, without having his aura up. Though to be fair, neither did she. It wasn’t fair in contests such as these to use aura. He had brought up his aura halfway through the chase to help fix the bruises that were beginning to form, and to help him from getting too winded.

From teams’ perspective Jaune running away from them was somewhat questionable. It was Ruby and team JNPR that wanted to catch Jaune. Blake, Yang, and a trailing behind Weiss were just chasing after him for the sake of chasing him. And it was getting them nowhere. He was still ahead of all eight of them, and didn’t show signs of slowing down. _Probably is using his aura to heal himself up_ thought Blake. Wait. Aura.

“Ruby! Use your semblance!”

Apparently Ruby hadn’t considered that, going by the surprised expression she was wearing. Glancing at Jaune, apparently neither had he, considering his expression was essentially ‘oh crap.’ Jaune proceeded to start running faster, trying to escape the inevitable. There was a flash of rose petals before Ruby Rose had tackled her first friend at Beacon to the ground. It was only moments later that she and Jaune were wrestling, the former trying to keep him on the ground while the latter was trying to get off and continue running away. Ruby did her best trying to keep him on the ground, but when the man you’re trying to keep pinned to the ground is almost an entire foot taller than it, well, it’s rather difficult. It didn’t matter however as within seconds of him standing up, his former classmates and his sister had surrounded him.

“H…hey guys, funny seeing you here,” he said, letting out a nervous chuckle.

“Yeah, a real hoot and holler” his sister replied.

“Jaune, your sister told us you away from home, where have you been all this time?” asked Blake. They hadn’t really talked much, but showing concern was the least she could do.

“Run away? I didn’t run away”

“That’s a load of shit Jaune! Dad told me that at the first chance you had, you ran away from home!”

Jaune’s expression soured. Of course his father would spin in like that. He knew his father loved him, but his father didn’t believe in him, didn’t believe in his dream of becoming a Huntsman. He hadn’t given him the support that he did with Margret and Elizabeth. He hadn’t given him the training that he did for Margret and Elizabeth. _You should be realistic Jaune, you’re not cut out to be a Huntsman. There’s nothing wrong with being a bake Jaune. You’re a skilled dancer, you could teach dancing Jaune. You could always make clothes Jaune. Would it have killed dad to have supported my dreams once in his life?_ It also didn’t help that his father and grandfather hated each other. The Arc patriarch believed that Julius was a dead beat who was off chasing fairytales instead of taking care of his family. The old Belmont believed that John was a stubborn jackass who refused to give things he didn’t agree with a second thought, and that he wouldn’t change his opinions on things no matter what. He also didn’t believe that he was good enough for his daughter, but that may have just been what a father with a daughter feels.

“I didn’t run away, I left with our grandad. I inherited a duty, and I will honor it to the day I die.” The response was said coldly, and it appeared that there was going to be a standoff between the twins.

“So,” Yang said, try to steer the conversation into something less heavy, “who would have thought that everyone’s favorite vomit boy, Jaune Arc, would become so skill.”

“It’s Belmont now. Jaune Belmont, vampire hunter,” he said straightening his jacket.

“Vampire hunter?” Ruby repeated, almost as if she had to confirm what he was saying.

“Well, more of a monster hunter really, but hunting vampires is a Belmont’s bread and butter so to speak.”

Did Jaune even hear the words coming out of his mouth? He must be telling a joke. But the look on his face told the hunters in training that he was serious.

“Vomit Boy, vampires aren’t really.”

“Believe me. Or don’t.” It wasn’t like the world was going to end if they didn’t believe him. He and Julius had been laughed at and mocked plenty of times in villages and towns they had stayed in over the time he spent with him. At first it made Jaune angry, but over time he just accepted that some people just wouldn’t believe him. He had pushed past them as he began to walk into the direction that he believed the commercial district to be in to get himself a hotel room for the next couple of days. He could try and look around tomorrow, on the hopes that he wouldn’t run into teams RWBY and JNPR, which seemed to contain his sister Joan now. He sighed, this is definitely not how he wanted his stay in Vale to go.

It wasn’t long before he realized two things. One, the hunters-in-training were following him. Two, that he was by the docks. Though after a short walk by, he started to smell something. The docks always smelled like fish, everyone knew that. This was different however. It was liking an entire school of fish had up and died.

Jaune stopped in his tracks, getting another whiff, just to make sure. That’s when he knew.

Jaune recognized this smell.

“Has anyone gone missing in these last recently?” he asked, not really any one of the Beacon students in particular, but he did need to know. It could mean life or death.

“Well, the news has reported that a couple dock workers have disappeared these last couple of days.” It was Weiss that replied. Honestly, it kinda made team RWBY feel uncomfortable. They had dealt with their share of dealing with stuff happening in Vale. Roman Torchwick and his dust robberies.The White Fang attacking Beacon. Some hacker uploading a virus to the robots Atlas brought to the Vytal Festival here in Vale three years ago that made them go haywire. But people just disappearing into thin air with no trace whatsoever? This was possibly beyond them.

The smell seemed to be getting stronger.

Ruby noticed what was still water in the docks begin to move, so she moved closer to investigate. As soon as she got close enough to get a glimpse the water had returned to its previous stillness.

She turned around and got maybe a foot or two away before she heard a loud splashing sound, followed by Jaune calling out.

“Ruby! Behind you!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, Dem here. I've given up on giving a time frame on any of the stories I write. I mean, this took eight months and multiple rewrites, and I'm still kind of on the fence about it, but I need to put it out to show that Jaune Belmont isn't a dead fic. I'm also halfway through the next chapter of Remnant's Restaurant, but I'm suffering from writer's block. Who knew you could get stuck writing about a RWBY character enjoying pizza. Anyway, finishing up this chapter has gotten the Jaune Belmont creative juices flowing, and I'll probably be starting the next chapter sometime today. Who knows, maybe I'll actually have the next chapter up soon and not another eight months from now. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the latest chapter of Jaune Belmont. Dem out


	4. Reunion Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now reunited, how will Jaune deal with both the monsters below the waters, and his friends on the land.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Your boy Dem has the latest chapter of Jaune Belmont, and it didn't take me eight months to write this chapter.

**Then**

The stench of death was in the air. No, this odor was much worse, for it could wake the dead. Luckily, there was no graveyards nearby, and Jaune and his grandfather had dealt with many a zombie in the year he had been training. No, this was a situation that he and Julius had only dealt with once or twice. And the warning signs for the Belmont’s prey did not overlap with any of their most recent hunts. In fact, the odorous environment was the first sign.

The second sign was a large body of water. The lake was of a decent size, not small but not unusually large. Lucky for them, there was no mountains nearby, no large hills, and after talking with the townspeople, no caverns or otherwise was anywhere near the area of the lake. Which was good, because that means there wasn’t going to be an exceptionally large population.

The thirds sign was the “tracks” that they quarry left. To the untrained or inexperienced eye, they looked like large snake tracks, or maybe a small King Taijitu (which were almost nonexistent, but it has been seen once or twice). They had seen the “tracks” nearby leading them to the lake. This was good, based on how one looked at it. If the area around the lake was naturally stoney, or was surrounded by cement, the tracks would not have been there, so the fact that they had something to confirm their theory was good. The bad was that they could all but confirm what was hunting the people.

“Jaune, did you make sure to bring the dust?” Julius asked.

“Of course,” he replied. It wasn’t his first time hunting these things. Besides that, his grandfather practically drilled into his head that they needed dust for hunts like this. They needed to completely get rid of the population, leaving even one could spell disaster. They had to get rid of the adults, the tadpoles, and the eggs. If they were lucky, it would just be a small population. If it was a large population however, things would get exponentially more difficult and complicated. All they should need is some ice dust and some lightning dust. Key word being should. If it was a large population, they would need gravity dust and maybe fire dust too. And sure, Jaune had made sure to bring that all with him, but it wasn’t like they had a lot of it. He and Julius roam Remnant’s country sides, there isn’t exactly a lot of dust shops out in the middle of nowhere.

_If I ever run into Weiss ever again, I should suggest putting dust shops in less populated areas._

It had only take a moment to get everything ready. Both Belmonts had their weapons ready, and were prepared for battle. As Julius walked over to the edge of the lake he pulled out a dagger. Once he had arrived at the water’s edge, he took the dagger and cut his hand. Julius made sure that a decent amount of the blood dripping made it into the lake. As soon as the water began to ripple, the elderly vampire hunter retreated a couple of meters and put his non injured hand on the Vampire Killer.

\----------

**NOW**

The sound of the cracking whip reverberated through Ruby’s ears as she noticed the whip almost fly past her head with astounding speed. Using her semblance, she quickly escaped to where her fellow hunters in training were. Looking to them, they all had a shocked expression, looking back to where she was, she saw the cause, and shared their expression. One foot from where she was only a moment again now stood a scaly creature. Taking a whip to the head seemed to have dazed it slightly, seeing as how it was focused on her instead of on Jaune. That quickly changed.

The creature now looked at Jaune. This was the source of the pain. This had interrupted the hunt. Soon this too would be food for the school. It was only meat, meant to be devoured and used. It let out a loud roar and charged toward him. It opened its mouth, ready to bite its prey’s head off. It raised one of its clawed webbed fingered hands to slice its prey’s chest open. Both of those never connected.

Jaune stiked the monster four more times, in quick secession. Ordinarily this would be impossible for a normal person with a normal whip, but Jaune was no ordinary person, and the Vampire Killer was no ordinary whip. It was powerful and precise, it had to be if it were to take down vampires, creatures of the night that could shrug off sniper rifle rounds in some cases, depending on how powerful they were. Hell, even a fresh vampire could tear an above average human in two with its bare hands. And this monster was no vampire, and as a result, was looking worse for wear. Two strikes had connected with its head, once where its heart is, and one where the lower body meets the upper body. Somewhat large and deep gashes were where the blows had connected, blood exited the body profusely. The creature’s vital organs were most definitely ruptured. Its heart was spilt open inside, blood no longer pumping properly. The brain had been impaled by portions of the skull that had cracked open from the impact of the whip. It almost took a dive from a larger gash to its “waist.”

The monster’s barely function brain told it that this was not food, it was a fellow predator, a danger, and that it needed to kill it. Now.

It pulled back its head, the cheeks of the monster filling. And after a moment from its mouth spewed a ball of fire that rocketed straight at Jaune. The Belmont, knowing what it is quickly dodged out of the way before striking the monster again twice, both time in the throat leaving deep gashes that sprayed out blood. The creature halted, its failing body trying to determine whether or not is should stay. Jaune didn’t let the creature consider it for more than a fraction of a second before a final crack of his whip practically sliced open the creature neck. It fell to the cold cement, lifelessly.

“What the hell was that?” asked Yang, almost too shocked for words.

“Merman, and if I had to guess, an adolescent one too. Probably just hit adulthood maybe a month or two ago.” The fact that Jaune said that so matter-of-factly showed that he, one; knew what it was, and two; he had dealt with this before.

Jaune began moving the merman on to its back, straightening out its lower body. It wasn’t until then that the others had noticed just how inhuman it looked. Its lower body looked to be almost serpentine, like an eel, with large spined fins jutting out at various angles all along the body. The grew larger in size toward the torso. The fins seemed to run the entire length of the body, going from what they could see of its back all the way to the top of the head. Its chest and underbelly were white whilst the rest of its body was a color the mixture of green and yellow. The elbows had the same spiked fins, while the inner portions of the arms were webbed. On each hand were four webbed fingers, with razor sharp claws at the end of each one. The head looked like that of a piranha, with razor sharp teeth. And at the top of the neck, right before the head, it had what looked to be a frill made of large spiked fins. Overall, it looked like something out of someone’s nightmare.

“So” Blake started out hesitantly, “say I start to believe you on the whole vampire hunter thing, what’s happens next.”

“Well,” he replied, poking, prodding, and inspecting the merman’s corpse, “in a couple more minutes I’ll have a more specific answer. Generally speaking, we kill the rest of the mermen that have taken up residence, and any eggs that they may have layed.” It was a couple of minutes spent in silence before Jaune finally spoke up.

“Okay, I have good news and bad news.”

“The good news?” Weiss asked.

“I was right; it was an adolescent. Not too dangerous seeing as it’s not an advanced subspecies of merman. Probably will only have standards here. Which brings us to the bad news.”

“Which is?”

“It’s an adolescent female. And the fact that it’s on the hunt means it probably just laid eggs about a week or two ago. Which means we probably have, at most a day, maybe two to kill the remaining adults, and kill the eggs before they hatch into tadpoles. Weiss, you and Ruby go and get some lightning and ice dust.” The Beacon students could only look on, still in shock. Now it was partly because Jaune had spoken with a confidence they had never seen him with, and had given Weiss and Ruby orders. “Well, what are you waiting for? Unless you want dozens of mermen snatching up people within the next couple of weeks.” This shook them from their stupor and they ran off, to get the materials they need.”

“Okay Jaune, what the hell is a merman?! Like seriously, what the hell is it, and why could it breath fire?!” Yang was get heated, her eyes red at the thing that had tried to kill her sister.

“Mermen are amphibious monsters that, when small, prey upon fish and other lake dwelling animals. When full grown they are able to go on land and hunt large animals, like dear, wolves, and people. They’re ambush predators mostly preferring to catch prey unaware, although that doesn’t mean they can’t put up a fight. Those claws can rip straight through leather armor and can even damage solid stone. And they don’t breathe fire, they spit it. Anything more than a quick fire ball dries them out too much and would damage their insides. Doesn’t stop them from spit multiple fireballs though, fishy bastards. Luckily, there shouldn’t be more than two or three more, and those will be males, so overall less dangerous.”

“How do you tell the difference between males and females, and young and old?” Blake previous shock and fear was quickly being replaced by curiosity.

“See this merman?” he asked, pointing towards the corpse. “It’s a yellow green color, adults are more green, and the webbing on the fins are more orange than red, so the color of the merman’s scales and the red webbing indicates that this is an adult, and only reached maturity about two months ago. Now, how I know it’s a female is the size. A young male adult merman will be about ten feet long. A female however? Sixteen feet long, and that’s not counting how long they’ll continue to grow. As soon as a male merman reaches maturity, that’s it for its size. A female with continue to grow in size for about another year and a half, to about twenty feet. However, neither will stand up taller than six feet when on land, no matter what the size.”

“Do they usually pop up in places like this?”

“No”

That answer disturbed them.

“Usually if mermen do set up a nest near a human settlement, it’d be a smaller town or village near a body of water, like a lake or on a coast, not a city like Vale. They may not look it, but Mermen are smart. Maybe not as smart as humans and faunus, but they are intelligent. They know enough that they would never survive near a large human settlement. Unless…”

“Unless?”

“Magic, black magic. Mermen are naturally attuned to magic, tending to search out lakes and rivers and other such places if they feel a magical pull. No one is really sure why, but if there’s black magic involved in a coastal city, there will probably be a mermen nest or two nearby. If there is a magician practicing black magic here in Vale, they must be powerful. To draw in two males and a female so a nest would get started in a city like Vale? That takes power.”

With every word Jaune said chills went down their spines.

“However, after I take care of these mermen, it’s unlikely more will show up. The ice dust is to kill the eggs. And using the lightning dust I can get any stray mermen that may have been missed. But, funny thing is, that when ice dust and lightning dust are used together rather quickly in an area with black magic will actually keep mermen away, like a signal that screams danger to any mermen to the point where they’ll actively avoid the area. If there’s no black magic in an area, a bit of fire and light dust in the mixture will just as well.”

Shortly after the explanation Weiss and Ruby returned, materials in hand. Looking and seeing that they had everything he needed. He pulled out a dagger and walked to the edge of the dock where the merman had tried to grab Ruby. In one quick motion Jaune slashed open the palm of his hand and held it over the water. He held it there for a solid couple of minutes, letting the blood fall into the water. The water’s surface began to ripple slightly at first before it began splashing violently. Retreating a good ten feet or so, Jaune waited for the remaining mermen to surface, and is if cue, the did.

As Jaune had stated previous the two mermen were indeed smaller than the first. Although while Jaune had been more reactionary with the first merman, he was much more aggressive with these two. No sooner did they leap out of the water did he start swinging the Vampire Killer. The first merman went down in what seemed a matter of seconds, barely enough time to react. When Jaune began to attack the second he aimed specifically for the throat, as to prevent any fireballs. If Ruby was being honest, she kind of wanted to the fight to last a bit longer. The thought of Jaune getting into an epic battle with monsters from beneath the seas seemed cool to her, even if she was a bit scared at first. But these two went down easy.

After taking care of the two mermen Jaune proceeded to grab the ice dust and proceeded to give it a quick once over. It was a fairly decent size, and just what he needed. Since saltwater needs extremely low temperatures to freeze, something small wouldn’t do, and neither would the powdered stuff. Sure, it was much more volatile, he needed something he could hold and channel his aura into, and Jaune knew that as soon as he opened that canister the dust would scatter. Plus, even if he could use it through the canister, it could pose a danger to him, what with it being so volatile. Better to have a decent sized crystal. As soon as his glance was finished he gave a nod as thanks and jumped into the waters of the docks below.

The salt water had hurt his eyes the moments he opened them to search for the egg cluster beneath the docks. To be fair, regular lake water could do the same, if he hadn’t activated his aura, and whenever dealing with dust, he couldn’t. Couldn’t risk the dust activating to early, blocking him from his path or trapping him in ice, leaving him to die underwater. No, better to save his aura and channel it into the dust when he would see the egg group.

It took about ten minutes, and coming up for air multiple time before he found the eggs. They were further down than he originally suspected, and he knew that he definitely be using his aura to patch him up once he was topside, but continued downwards until he reached them. Once they were about ten feet directly in front of him, he took the ice dust out of his jacket pocket. Holding it out in front of him, he channeled his aura into, willing the ice to form and jut outwards and surround the eggs. It took a moment, but the dust heeded his will and encased the eggs, making an icy coffin for the unborn mermen. He proceeded to swim towards the now frozen eggs and smashed them to shards with the hilt of his shortsword. Once they were all thoroughly broken he refroze them and swam to the surface.

Saltwater clung to his body and he found his way back to the others. As he returned to them they saw just how he looked. His long blond hair was almost pasted to the back of his jacket, and his clothes were absolutely drenched, to the point where Blake could have sworn she her water sloshing around in his boots. His eyes were red from exposure to salt water, and he stunk to high heaven of saltwater and faintly like how the docks smelled, a lesser version of the mermen nest. Without saying another word, he grabbed the lightning dust crystal from Ruby and poured a great deal of his aura into it, so that the electricity generated would explode outwards and fry just about anything within the radius of the nest, and of the refrozen shards after he threw it in. He began to walk towards his wagon, before Ren put a hand on his shoulder. They probably weren’t going to let him go.

\----------

It was nice of teams RWBY and JNPR to buy him a fresh change of clothes and a hotel room so he could take a shower, although Jaune felt that they did that more so he wouldn’t stink when confronting him instead of it being a nice gesture. But what was done was done, and they had spent their money on him. Currently they were in a diner in downtown Vale, of which they made sure to let him know that he would be buying dinner for everyone. It would be a blow to his recently fattened wallet, but they had spent more money on him then he was so, and he had run away from them when they wanted to grill him for where he’d been and what he’d been doing, so the Belmont thought it was more than fair.

“And then he just ran at me after boasting. Who does that? He must have been fresh; no seasoned vamp would chase a man who came looking for him.” They, after having just witnessed what they did, wanted to know about what he was doing. And he told them the highlights. He told them of his first mermen encounter, of how hard his grandfather pushed him, how his grandfather bettered him, his first hunt solo, encounters with various supernatural creatures… and how Julius Belmont died. He told them the he was entombed in the Belmont ancestral home, like all Belmonts previous. He didn’t tell them however that only he and his mother Irene attended. He didn’t tell them that even after his father in law died, John Arc refused to have anything to do with Julius Belmont. How Margret and Elizabeth were too busy to make it. And though Jaune didn’t tell them this, they could see the emotions as he told his stories. The pride of killing his first vampire alone and having his grandfather praise him for it. The frustration of trying to reach the standards his grandfather held him too, and how hard he reached them. The happiness he had when his grandfather fully supported him unconditionally. The sadness and grief present on his face and in his voice as he talked about his grandfather’s death and what he told them of his grandfather’s funeral. He probably didn’t realize any of this, like his friends did, but they didn’t say a word as he told his stories. And maybe, just maybe, it wasn’t such a bad reunion after all. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like that I was able to get this chapter done so easily. Hopefully future chapters won't take too long, but given my previous track record, I'm not going to make any promises. I've also gone back and edited a few minor things in the previous chapter, like getting rid of the reference to Adam. I plan on using everyone's most mediocre bull faunus later in JB, and I don't want a reference to get in the way of my plans for the introduction of how the White Fang currently are in the currently in the story. Plus, there is going to be a different, albeit similar dynamic between team RWBY's cat faunus and the White Fang's bull faunus. Anyway, hope you enjoyed. Dem out.


End file.
